A university professor argues for new and skilled leaders in South Sudan.

A University of Juba scholar has called on old politicians to quit and make way for young intelligent and well-informed politicians who are ready to govern the nation.

Prof. Chaplain Kara Yokoju, Deputy Dean of the University of Juba’s School of Journalism, Media, and Communication Studies, said that the present leaders had been in power for too long without making a change.

Dr. Yokoju’s remarks come as South Sudan marked its eleventh year of independence. According to the scholar, the former had run out of fresh ideas since they were no longer innovative.

According to the Professor, incumbent leaders should consider resigning and allowing new brains and ideas to lead South Sudanese.

He noted that the leaders had been in charge for far too long, beginning with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, and had never done anything new.

Prof. Yokoju, a PHD holder in Diplomacy and International Relations, said in an interview with one of Juba’s most prominent media outlets that politicians are just rehashing concepts that have failed in the past.

“We need new thinking and fresh leadership; the word resignation should be in their lexicon.” “I don’t understand why they aren’t retiring when they know they are failing the people of South Sudan,” Dr. Yokoju remarked.

“So, my advice to the leaders is to reflect individually; to look inside to what they have done and what they have not done; and if they discover that each person is not doing better, the method is called resignation.”

Allow them to quit and let someone with new ideas come in; that is how the change will come to the nation and faults will be remedied,” he said.

The professor added that people in South Sudan must be patient since their wages are not being paid, but the services they expected to enjoy after independence are not being provided, and they are not secure.

He said that ethnic tensions remain and that internal tribe conflict may be seen across the country.

He argued that it is the failure of those who were given the responsibility to govern this country, to look after the welfare of the people, the territory of South Sudan, the security of the people of South Sudan, their properties, and to provide them with services, that has failed the people of this country.

“When their time comes and they depart and elections are conducted, let the people of South Sudan bring the sort of leaders that they need that offer them hope and prosperity because they struggled and battled for and voted for South Sudan’s independence in 2011, so the hope is not lost,” he added.

He did, however, congratulate the leaders since the battle till the independent territory of South Sudan, which he said was historical, and the people of South Sudan must protect it as they have in the past.

Kara advised South Sudanese journalists to investigate how the media laws might be modified so that when the permanent constitution is implemented, the existing media atmosphere would change.

He stated that people who are supposed to implement article 24 of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan 2011 as amended; article 24 (1, 2, and 3), freedom of expression, access to information, and dissemination of information, and all government organs were supposed to comply with that article, but they are not.

“The problem was the interpretation of South Sudan’s media laws; the government interpreted the media laws as giving them authorities to regulate and control media in the Republic of South Sudan, and that is why they are detaining, arresting, and closing down newspapers; that is the media landscape we as media houses or journalists are facing in South Sudan,” he emphasized.